Do the Grammy Awards Matter?

2/10/2012 1:50PM

Will Nicki Minaj win "Best New Artist"? Will Chris Brown get a warm welcome? And how will Adele sound after her surgery? All big questions ahead of the Grammys. But the most important question: Do the Grammy Awards actually matter at all? An all star WSJ panel weighs in.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

the ... well it's a it's ... a given year that is the fourth annual Grammy Awards and we've assembled an all star ... write ... music my things here to Wall Street Journal ... Jim Sealy ... also John Jurgensen and Chris Riley ... guys the major headlines here first ... we're going to see Adele ... and holds ... a vocal cord surgery performance ... also been controversy Old Chris Brown ... coming back to perform and also a return of the Beach boys but I'll post the biggest headlines that we should be looking for ... people been waiting to have for comeback to perform ... for a long time ... heard the album sold without her which in some of the artist and being that the cat so hard it's ... another QE the presence of American television ... Chris grown things and we talked about alot because ... they're still lot of ... anger ... over the whole ... Brioni incident that both could be on hand for these awards are looking for where where the light on so what will play his that such a thing about the statement that the Greek word Kennison by bring back to mean stoking the fires of much for seeds of ratings possibly but ... the Minolta some of that on my need our right ... well I think this this is this is a key issue when will be discussed ... I think it's ... it's disingenuous ... to think of it as a music award for women to marketing award program ... and it's more and more designed to be TV entertainment rather than ... a celebration of the the the history of ... music there was a shocker last year with ... Esperanza Spalding who actually upset Justin Bieber injury to become best new artist and that was kind of a ... stark departure from Apple ... in the peaks for the shift ... in the team in a time when a business it would ... go with it and t shirt when ... that isn't a worthy candidates out there about ... that though she was everywhere so I went to Oklahoma man if you measure to bite you bakery and how many appearances he had on award shows cameos our tools records I mean and down the July sales that goes back to your whole saying that ... it's about marketing and sees the part of the marketing machine isn't that part of the other day yes it did that but you could you can defend the album is high quality ... high most of the video is much like the bill and ... the Bills albums super ... just because she's nominated in every category ... my dear and be part of ... this market ... the search for quality ... is there a point that goes too far ... well I mean it and I think it's it's gone too far for a while oh I don't think the Grammys are indicative of what's going on ... to this ... music scene I think it's pretty weak soup ... I mean I think everyone was the Grammy's to be all things all people mean you can't if you took away those big glossy stars the Katy Perry's and then in the keys and that the God as what you know I would how would you justify that it would be shocked ... by ... people wonder what music has been going on since the book has been recorded music people Market people become more images that usernames able to sell the news that this is not a new thing ... um but it is ... always an ongoing outrage who gets ignored who doesn't yet ... know I mean some category one thing that's very troubling is that once upon a time there were a hundred mind is ... that only seventy ... and bite ... in the the thirty one they cut were mostly in the marginal category is ... where people who could ... really profit from having won a Grammy ... you have to go from here to see in this is at a time when the industry is is more fragmented than ever ... so to consolidate the awards base after profit line ... digital music to bomb the music it's too bad ... that continued few musicians ... able to get the names of the trip to sell the news and whether or not there on stage now is that it is a good run around saying ... I got a Grammy ... whoever category ... the whole Shukri or ... to build credibility ... and Intel's ... dreams and interesting to avert a new category ... in Dublin for ... Ynoa Mrs Barton categories so we don't need any help ... from the public to sell more records ... this was that is not a good thing for ... American music and ... art programs as relevant as these to be ... well I'd ... I don't know that they've ... ever been ... relevant ... in determining what really is the best music that's currently available ... you'll see a lot of Grammy wins by the Beale Street ... you know motel one its share of Grammys but probably not as many as they should ... I and I think that is when all the Grammys are for major label artist who ... was marketed heavily ... and it's a night in celebration of a certain segment of music ... they're fine but if you think they represent what's happening in the music scene Opel ... that are actually detrimental ... when you can see them making moves to try and be relevant to try and Tepco mean we talked earlier about the you know the emergence of the dance electronic music category ... in the category so went in there but those artists have ... distilled eased over there there is also strong in the past two years so I mean if you saw out like ... an Oscar likes when the best new artist at the end of the obscure surprised if he did but ... aam value they know that the of the mark for that for that job ... and if anyone is ... qualified to weigh in on this this this panel ... of guests thank you so much ... and with this all star panel Wall Street Journal music experts I'm Lee Hawkins was seen ...